Canadian Markets Report

TSX May Open Higher As Energy Prices Surge

Bay Street stocks may extend their gains Friday morning amid recovery in energy prices and upsurges in global equities. Also, the euro extended gains as worries over the euro zone appeared to have eased, at least for now, after China denied a report it was looking to cut its euro zone sovereign debt holdings.

On Thursday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 205.23 points or 1.78% to 11,749.12. The price of oil moved up for a third session, with crude for July adding $0.70 to $75.25 a barrel. The price of gold was trading almost flat at around $1,213 an ounce.

In a major oil and gas industry deal, Europe's largest energy producer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said it will acquire closely-held US-based East Resources Inc stock for $4.7 billion. The acquisition is the second-largest oil and gas deal this year after BP's acquisition of deep-water assets from Devon Energy Corp. for $7 billion.

In corporate news, National Bank of Canada reported second-quarter net income of $1.50 per share, compared with $1.41 per share in the prior year period.

International semiconductor product supplier Zarlink Semiconductor reported fourth-quarter net income of $0.05 per share, compared to a loss of $0.41 per share in the same quarter last year. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $0.05 per share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $0.01 per share in the prior year quarter. The company declared a quarterly dividend of C$0.50 per share and guides revenue in the range of $57.0 million - $58.5 million with earnings in the range of $0.07 - $0.09 per share.

Aerospace and industrial components maker Héroux-Devtek Inc. reported lower fourth-quarter net income of C$0.14 per share, compared to C$0.20 per share last year.

Therapeutic products maker Amorfix Life Sciences said it entered into agreement with Aragen Bioscience, Inc. to develop high-affinity monoclonal antibodies against a number of targets for cancer.

Video surveillance security services provider LOREX Technology reported second quarter earnings of $36 thousand or breakeven per share, compared to $157 thousand or $0.01 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Residential and commercial construction services provider Boyuan Construction Group said its third-quarter net income increased 86% to $2.16 million from $1.16 million last year. Earnings per share for the latest quarter were $0.09, higher than $0.05 per share in the prior year.

Industrial equipments rentals services provider Canadian Equipment Rental Fund Limited Partnership said its first-quarter net income slipped to C$0.08 per unit from C$0.15 per unit a year ago. Natural resources company Petromanas Energy closed brokered private placement of 187.50 million units at a price of C$0.40 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of C$75 million.

Automobile parts maker ZENN Motor Company reported a wider second-quarter net loss of $2.01 million, compared to $1.97 million in the prior year period. However, on a per share basis, net loss was $0.05 compared with $0.06 in the same quarter last year.

Mineral explorer Wescan Goldfields reported a first-quarter net loss of $0.18 million, compared to a net loss of $0.16 million in the same quarter last year.

In economic news, Statistics Canada said the deficit on current transaction, on a seasonally adjusted basis, with rest of the world narrowed to C$7.8 billion in the first quarter. This was down from a current account deficit of C$10.2 billion in the previous quarter. Economists were expecting a deficit of C$9 billion.

From the U.S., the Commerce Department said personal income increased by 0.4% in April, matching the upwardly revised increase seen in the previous month. Economists were expecting income to increase by 0.4% compared to the 0.3% growth originally reported for March. On the other hand, the personal spending came in unchanged in April after surging up by 0.6% in March, belying economists' expectations for an increase of 0.3%.